“Homage” is a music series that pays respect to the musical giants that have forever altered the way we listen, sample and love music. We pay our esteem to Roy Ayers for his amazing impact and contribution to hip-hop, R&B and neo-soul. One of the most heavily sampled artists, Roy has We pay homage to Roy Ayers in pairing him with the legendary Pete Rock, performing live with Ayers and his band. J.Rocc is the house DJ and Thundercat, and band, will open the night with a set. Spinning records in the lounge is Anthony Valadez, Clifton Weaver, Destroyer, Lee Joseph and Marlon Fuentes with KCRW’s Garth Trinidad hosting the festivities.

This event is being held at the historic “Exchange Los Angeles” 618 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90032. Tickets priced as follows: Early Bird Specials $20, Presale $25 and General Admission $30. Admittance is 21 and over. To purchase tickets, visit: www.homage.eventbrite.com

Roy Ayers was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in a musical family. At the age of five, Lionel Hampton gave him his first pair of mallets, which led to the vibraphone being his trademark sound for decades. The area of Los Angeles that Ayers grew up in, now known as “South Central” but then known as “South Park” was the epicenter of the Southern California Black Music Scene. Ayers is responsible for the highly regarded soundtrack to Jack Hill’s 1973 Blaxploitation film, Coffy, starring the illustrious Pam Grier. In 1977, Ayers produced an album by the group RAMP, Come Into Knowledge, commonly and mistakenly thought to stand for “Roy Ayers Music Project.” That Fall, he released the soulful and funky hit “Running Away.” In 1980, Ayers released “Music Of Many Colors” with the Nigerian Afro-beat pioneer Fela Kuti. Roy made a huge impact in the world of Hip-Hop and RnB. Artists have sampled and covered him, ranging from Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige, Mos-Def, Digable Planets, DJ Shadow, Nas, Madlib, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, Common, The Pharcyde, Pete Rock, Jill Scott and many more.

Soul Brother No. 1., also known as, Pete Rock, rose to prominence in the early 1990’s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth. After the duo separated ways, Rock continued with a solo career garnering worldwide respect. Along with groups such as Stetsasonic, A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots and Gang Starr, Nas and Notorious B.I.G., Talib Kweli and the late J Dilla, Rock played a major role in the merging of elements from jazz into hip-hop music (also known as jazz rap). He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time and is often mentioned alongside DJ Premier and RZA as one of the strongholds of 1990’s East Coast hip-hop production.

Stephen Bruner is Thundercat, the dominant bassist rising within the ranks of R&B, rock, hip-hop, jazz, electronic and beyond. The mystique behind the man named for his favorite cartoon seemingly hides an introspective, ambitious, and fearless young artist whose solo debut album is finally emerging in front of the vast catalog of experience he has amassed in collaboration with the likes of Erykah Badu, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Shafiq Husayn, Suicidal Tendencies, Stanley Clarke, and Flying Lotus, his closest partner and head of the Brainfeeder movement. Stephen is joined by a serious cast of jazz cats!

One of the original turntablists, J.Rocc founded the Beat Junkies in 1992 with Melo-D and Rhettmatic, but has done just as much on his own as in a group setting. He began DJing in the mid-’80s with a California group named PSK. Soon after forming, the Beat Junkies became a seminal force in the rise of instrumental hip-hop, including core member Babu plus future stars Shortkut and D-Styles. In addition to numerous mixtapes and his own production for Stones Throw releases, J. Rocc has been the DJ for Madlib’s live shows since the early 2000’s, was the 3rd member of Jaylib (Madlib & J Dilla) during the group’s live events, and collaborated with Madlib on Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6: A Tribute to J Dilla.

ArtDontSleepis a Los Angeles-based production company founded by Andrew Lojero. For the last 7 years, ArtDontSleep has promoted and produced some of Los Angeles’ most memorable events. Over the years, ArtDontSleep has brought the community a variety of special events. Andrew Lojero also runs Creative for Plug Research Records rooted in Los Angeles, CA. From the Walt Disney Concert Hall to UCLA’s JazzReggae Festival to afterhours in downtown loft buildings, ArtDontSleep shares the torch of great music and extra-ordinary happenings.

Edgar Varela Fine Arts (EVFA) and its managing director Edgar Varela has long been associated with the conceptualizing, programming and execution of cultural events. Driven by art and music, EVFA discerningly curates art and music festivals, concerts, art exhibitions and sponsor-driven specialty events that are relevant and provide economic development for blighted areas and the enrichment of culturally vibrant areas. Edgar Varela also operates two project spaces and produces over myriad events a year, with an education in Business & Marketing and an events-production background, he has earned a reputation in the Los Angeles cultural events world.

Stuart Westcliff a/k/a Zoltan a/k/a Stu (1969 – 2011)

Ex-Satelliters bass-player and close friend of the band passed away of heart failure at the age 42, mid-October 2011.

Zoltan aka Stu was the most passionate guy we knew. We first met him when we played together in 1995 in Frankfurt. Back then he was the bass-player of The Insectmen, a really crude and mean garage-punk-trio playing well-chosen covers like “Tiger-Girl” or “Go Go-Gorilla” in their very own and great style. Since then we never lost touch. We shared the stage from time to time and after his band broke up and in 1998 and we were going through some line-up changes, he agreed to join The Satelliters. Zoltan took-over the bass-playing in a storm and brought our backing vocals, song-writing and arrangements to new dimensions. Without him we would have never been able to record one of our best records ever, our “mile-stone,”
“What´s Up With Timothy Dee?”

Rehearsals were so much fun and recordings always filled with new input, because he always had something new in the pocket and pushed things to the limit and beyond. His influences are still vivid in our music and his criticism on later records and live-shows were well-founded and welcome. When he left the band due to his disease he became a closer friend than ever and made his never easy way step by step. He never lost touch with music and bass-playing. He jammed from time to time with different people and helped out Redondo Beat when needed. He carried on collecting cool bass-guitars, recorded some fine lounge tunes as Stuart Westcliff and released one 45 on Redondo Beat´s Label Soul Sale. Beside music, Zoltan was a cineaste and an avid reader and he loved the Mighty Boosh. He always came up with new and unknown films, books and sure great music (most of it Soul and Soundtracks) and gave us new input over and over. He was a sensitive, friendly and funny guy and we always had a lot of fun making music and hanging out together…we sadly miss you!

The planned re-release of “What´s Up With Timothy Dee?” on Dionysus Records will be dedicated to Zoltan to keep his works and music in living memory.
We lost a close and long-time friend and band-mate and our world will not be the same without him – thank you Stu!